Speculative Fiction—an all-encompassing genre created to describe stories of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and other stories that have an element of “What if...” in them. A story in speculative fiction is one that adds an element of the unreal, or asks, what would become of our society if history took a different direction at some important event? Fiction with a little something extra thrown in.—William D. Richards

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Thursday, March 31, 2016

It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up
of speculative fiction by indie authors newly published this month,
though some February books I missed the last time around snuck in as
well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far,
most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for
future editions.

Iltani asked to be none of these things. Yet fate does not ask permission when she weaves souls upon destiny’s loom.

On the day of Iltani’s birth, an assassin tried and nearly succeeded
in ending the line of the gryphon kings. Out of that bloodshed, an
unbreakable bond was forged between child-king and goddess-chosen
infant, and from that pivotal moment forward, Iltani was never farther
from King Ditanu than his shadow. Not until her training to become
Ishtar’s Blade required her to leave.

After four brutal years of training, Iltani now returns to court as
Ishtar’s Blade and takes up her role of king’s shadow—a dangerous
position in a court where the threat of another assassination is but a
blade’s width away. But for the chance to stand at the side of her
beloved king, she will endure the dangers of court intrigues, assassins,
and political maneuverings.

1956. After a sock hop at the local high school gym, teenagers Betty
and Cody drive out to Lovers’ Lane together. Betty knows only too well
that good girls don’t go to Lovers’ Lane with boys. But Cody is her one
true love and besides, he swore that he’d love her forever or may he be
struck down where he stands. But then, an alien invasion shows Betty
just what Cody’s word is truly worth…

This is a story of “The Day the Saucers Came…”, a loosely connected
series of eyewitness accounts of a B-movie type alien invasion in 1956.

Mateo Jimenez is haunted by the death of his first girlfriend, and
his fear of repeating past mistakes has cost him personal relationships
and now his job. While his colleagues protect L.A. from the demonic
Glowers, he’s been demoted to office work.

So when a Glower approaches him to negotiate a ceasefire, Mateo
agrees to listen, planning to gather information on the demons that will
prove his worth. He isn’t prepared to be so tempted by Kess, who uses
her supernatural talents to bring his most buried desires to life. As he
struggles to keep the upper hand, he discovers he can provoke human
emotions in the demon, but the more warmth and kindness Kess offers, the
more confused his own feelings become. No longer sure what’s an act and
what’s real, Mateo sees a chance to stop the Glowers for good. But
first he must decide whether trusting Kess is the key to succeeding or
the greatest betrayal he could ever commit.

The third book in The Glower Chronicles, a steamy New Adult paranormal series.

Connor Black doesn’t believe in the supernatural, and that’s about to bite him in the ass.

Connor’s life gets interesting when a new writer joins his video game
studio. Sparks fly; Wendy is pretty, intelligent, and definitely into
Connor—but careful never to reveal much about herself.

And before long, Connor has his own secrets to worry about: a
tattooed stranger attacks and nearly kills him, giving no explanation.
Angry but mystified, Connor doesn’t tell anyone what happened, and tries
to put the attack behind him—and he tries to convince himself that the
weird little things he’s starting to notice about Wendy aren’t really
that weird. Stressed and sleep-deprived, with the looming deadline of a
multi-million-dollar video game launch weeks away, Connor just doesn’t
have time to deal with ‘weird’.

But when the evidence trail of an horrific crime begins to lead back
to Connor himself, Connor must seek out answers to the questions he’s
been avoiding, even if it means risking his own life and sanity—and the
lives of those around him.

Cursed into serving a clandestine shadow group, I have a lot of blood
on my hands. Good thing I also have a juvenile problem with authority.
I’m not taking orders anymore, and the first thing on my bucket list is
bringing them down.

If I’m good at anything, it’s looking in dark places. But I’ve got
shadows of my own. Horrific deeds coming back to haunt me, and not the
metaphorical kind of haunting, either. I’m talking ghosts, mages, and
that thing with the glowing red eyes.

Just goes to show you, it really is true what they say. What goes around comes around. I only hope to give more than I get.

Mankind’s outer colonies are disappearing. Without warning. Without a
trace. Fleet command chalks the attacks up to pirates, but Captain
Dryker of the UFC Johnston isn’t buying it.

Defying command, he leads his misfit crew into hostile territory in
search of answers. They encounter the mythical Void Wraith, an
unstoppable legend whispered by the first race. After 26,000 years the
Void Wraith have returned to begin the next Eradication. Their
technology is superior, their motives unclear.

Humanity cannot stop them. Not without help. Captain Dryker’s only
hope is to forge an alliance with mankind’s greatest enemy, the savage
Tigris.

One maverick captain, an unlikely crew, and an aging vessel are all that stand between humanity and the Eradication.

For the first time in its history, Tevenar is at war. The Matriarch
of Ramunna, furious with the wizards she believes betrayed her, has sent
the Armada to conquer and destroy. Armed with a secret weapon that
makes them the unchallenged terror of the seas, the ships of the Armada
descend on vulnerable Tevenar.

Elkan and Josiah, along with the rest of the Wizard’s Guild, scramble
to rally the people of Tevenar to defend their home. The Mother’s power
gives them a chance to stand against their foes, but alone it’s not
enough.

To defeat the Ramunnans, they must find a way to duplicate their
enemies’ weapons. Josiah believes they can, because they’ve encountered
a similar explosive before. But only one person in Tevenar knows how to
make and use the deadly blasting powder—Meira, the woman Elkan once
loved and rejected.

A desperate gamble…
Sanah would do anything to protect her little sister, even if it
means taking refuge with ruthless pirates. But the psychically Talented
pirates terrorizing Commonwealth space are not quite the monsters she
has been led to believe. When Sanah’s empathic gift shows her the truth
behind the stories, she is no longer certain who the villains are in her
world.

A race on the verge of extinction…
Dem’s only goal is to protect his people, especially since a deadly
bio-weapon decimated their population. Only a handful of women survived,
and every day is a fight to rebuild. With Sanah’s empathy and her
sister’s rare ability to heal, they could be the salvation Dem and his
people have been looking for.

A dangerous secret that could destroy everything…
But how can Sanah trust Dem with her life? Especially when he’d kill her if he knew the truth.

A thousand years ago, on the world of Claire-Agon, a war raged
between men and dragons, destroying both the creatures and the land’s
many civilizations.

Targon Terrel accepts his fate as a Ranger, a servant of the Mother
and Defender of the Arnen. Having protected his fellow countrymen, he
continues his battle against the sinister Kesh wizards, but he does not
fight alone. Aided by unlikely allies, he presses his attacks to
liberate Ulatha and its people.

The Kesh continue to dominate the realms of Agon, enslaving those of
neighboring realms and seeking to obtain the one artifact that will
ensure their perpetual domination of Agon forever.

Meanwhile, ancient evils stir from their long slumbers, moving to
ensnare all within their reach as Dor Akun, Father Death approaches.

Evil prepares to cover the land and only one thing stands in its way, a simple Ulathan family that goes by the name of Terrel.

Three years on from the birthday party that left him crippled for
life, Shadow is well on the way to wrecking what’s left of himself. When
stealing morphine from a hospital almost lands him in prison, his
family give him one more chance to clean up, and he takes it. By his
21st birthday, he’s six months sober and settling for a simple and
honest life. Then an unexpected visitor turns up at Shadow’s home, with a
new idea about how to get his body restored.

Everything comes at a price though, and the elusive Blake Stanford’s
price is going to be more than Shadow wants to pay. Despite his loyalty
to both Shadow’s family and the Talent Council, Blake has dangerous
ideas. The kind that can either make history or get people put in
prisons that don’t officially exist. If they live long enough to reach
them.

The Serious Crimes Office are hot on the tail of Blake and his new
protegé, and Shadow has made enemies out of people high up in the
world’s most powerful organisation: The Seekers’ Council, known for
making unpredictable people disappear without trace. A nosy journalist
won’t stay out of Shadow’s personal life, and a crime boss who wants
Shadow for her own plans will stop at nothing to own his allegiance. Is
anyone truly his ally? The good doctor Kit Calloway still is, but
keeping Shadow alive might just cost him more than his career this time.

Especially if the world’s most powerful Seekers discover Shadow’s
true identity. Or the three tubes of Liquid Talent he once buried deep
in a forest, and promised never to dig up unless lives depended on the
secrets inside them…

Detective Elliot Winter believes an innocent man may hang, framed for
murders he didn’t commit. He’s convinced the condemned knows too much,
and even if the man escapes the hangman’s noose, powerful people want
him dead.

On the grounds of the abbey at the edge of town, the catacombs
conceal terrible secrets. There are whispers of murder, ritual
sacrifice, and worse. Winter cannot abide a world where such crimes are
allowed to go unpunished.

In a race against time, Detective Winter risks his life and sanity to
unravel a conspiracy concealing something far more sinister than even
he can imagine.

Ensign Athena Lee has finally been rescued. The galaxy has changed
over the last fifteen years. She finds herself arrested, her rights
taken away, and tortured. Political corruption has taken over. Now
someone is out to kill her. With assassins and bounty hunters at every
corner what is an Engineer to do? Use the right tool for the right job
and Fix it!Freemont by P.J. Post:

This romance brought to you by the end of the world…

Freemont’s River Walk is romantic, exciting and has the best cafes
and restaurants in the county. And the residents intend to keep it that
way. They opened up the armory, fueled the World War II trucks and even
got the ancient generators working. They turned on the lights.

To improve the security of the townspeople, they put up a fence,
manned by the good soldiers from Crayton Industries, selflessly
protecting the refugees, and the nurses and doctors that care for them
in their selectively policed triage units.

Freemont is a beacon for the survivors of the War.

Come to Freemont: you’ll be fed, you’ll be warm, you’ll be safe…

And now Lane’s here.

And somewhere among all of those River Walk cafes and restaurants,
the pretty church steeples and the good intentions, the snow covered
maple trees and the street lights along Main, among the Cart People and
the Button Eye plague…

The gods are back in town. Skyscrapers pop out of nowhere all around
Athens. Corporations rename themselves as Greek gods. It all started
with the Greek crisis of 2009 and it will forever change the world as we
know it. Some say that CEO’s have gone mad. Others, that they know damn
well what they are doing. That there is something solid amongst the
myth. In the day of inter-connectivity and social media admiration, can
the myths come back to life?

When the daughter of Greece’s premier singer fails to sing as
expected, she finds out about a biker group of women. But will she
manage to find the elusive Orosa, the bikers’ motovlogger, when all she
has to go on are random street-sightings of criminal behaviour, when her
family is opposed to her following this path and when her dad’s
employer wants to keep her as she was for marketing purposes?

Pete has a pretty good life these days: a job he likes, friends, and a
boyfriend who accepts him as he is. But despite all this, life isn’t
without its challenges — and dangers.

a Men of the ESRB novel
takes place after “KEEP” and contains the same characters
gay paranormal fiction
66,000 words

The Extra Sensory Regulatory Bureau rates talented individuals like
empaths and clairvoyants. They have special gifts — and often some extra
burdens that go along with them. The ESRB takes care of its own, but
these guys still have a lot to figure out about life — and love. Stay
tuned for more tales from the men of the ESRB.

With the silver murders solved and her training as a mage underway,
Sunaya figured her life would get easier. But between the Chief Mage’s
packed schedule and the grunt work demanded of her as an apprentice
mage, magic lessons are few and far between. Worse, her apprenticeship
leaves little time for her job as an Enforcer, and without bounties
Sunaya’s money pouch is drying up — fast.

Even so, when Shiftertown Inspector Boon Lakin asks for Sunaya’s help
digging deeper into the murder of a fellow Enforcer, Sunaya has no
trouble making room in her life to help him. The trail leads them to a
series of crimes victimizing shifters for the entertainment of vicious
humans. Sunaya and her friends race to identify the perpetrators and
free the survivors, and the stakes are heightened when she discovers one
of the victims has a connection to her. But if Sunaya is not careful,
she may end up a very dead shifter herself…

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

The deadline for the nominations for the 2016 Hugo Awards and 1941 Retro Hugo Awards is approaching fast, because the Hugo ballots have to be cast until March 31, 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time.

If you feel you haven't read widely enough, don't worry. Just nominate whatever you read or watched and enjoyed. And if you can't fill every single slot or category, don't worry. Your ballot is valid, even if you do not fill everything in.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

About Pirate Bound:

A desperate gamble…Sanah would do anything to protect her little sister, even if it
means taking refuge with ruthless pirates. But the psychically Talented
pirates terrorizing Commonwealth space are not quite the monsters she
has been led to believe. When Sanah's empathic gift shows her the truth
behind the stories, she is no longer certain who the villains are in her
world.

A race on the verge of extinction…Dem’s only goal is to protect his people, especially since a deadly
bio-weapon decimated their population. Only a handful of women survived,
and every day is a fight to rebuild. With Sanah’s empathy and her
sister’s rare ability to heal, they could be the salvation Dem and his
people have been looking for.

A dangerous secret that could destroy everything…But how can Sanah trust Dem with her life? Especially when he’d kill her if he knew the truth.

Pirate Bound is a short prequel novel to the Telepathic Space Pirates series. It is a standalone story within the series.

Excerpt:

Sanah knew she’d fallen asleep when she found herself standing
barefoot beneath a Denuvian orange sun, grass the same color and
texture as red velvet brushing against her ankles. Beside her,
water cascaded over crystalline rock, rushing past trees with
diamond-shaped, copper leaves, and into a deep lake surrounded by
glittering sand. Branches laden with sweetly fragrant flowers
swayed in the breeze above her head.

Her hair blew across her face, and she realized it was down, loose
around her shoulders. She almost never wore it that way—the thick
curls were unruly enough as it was, often escaping whatever attempt
she made to control them. She looked down at herself and saw a
short kimono in rich cobalt blue from her own closet, abandoned
back home. It was one of her favorite pieces, but…

“I’ve never been to Denuvia,” she said aloud, turning a slow
circle. The popular vacation world was on her list, but far outside
of her reach, even before she fled her old life. This was too vivid
for a normal dream.

“Stop it, Niall. Right now.” This wasn’t the first time she’d been
pulled into a dream that was anything but.

“Who’s Niall?”

The unfamiliar voice had her swinging around, and she gasped,
shocked. A naked man walked out of the lake, water sluicing off his
fantastically fit body with each step he took. His skin was pale
and smooth. Black hair ruffled in the breeze, long enough to hang
into eyes a striking, intense blue. He was beautiful and definitely
not Niall.

Niall had never sent anyone else into one of these not-dreams
before. Not even to try to pair her up with one of the men he’d
vetted and approved for her. Niall had never understood how her
gift made maintaining a relationship difficult. He saw the right
partnership as both taking care of her and also solidifying their
family’s place within the organization. Sanah couldn’t believe
that, after all of his past failures, even Niall could be so
ridiculous as to believe a handsome, naked man could convince her
to see things his way.

Panic fluttered through her. Unless his only goal was to distract
her, however briefly. If Niall wasn’t here, with her…

“Where’s Nayla?” she demanded.

“She’s exactly as you left her.” The handsome stranger shrugged. “A
little alarmed that she can’t wake you, but otherwise perfectly
fine. I thought it best if we conversed privately.”

“You thought? Just who are you? Where’s Niall?” Sanah crossed her arms,
aware the gesture was defensive, even as she tried to sound
authoritative. “I’m not dealing with anyone but him.”

The stranger strode closer, and Sanah strove valiantly to keep her
eyes on his face as he stepped from the water to the sand, his
footfalls leaving indentations behind him. She didn’t bother to
back away. The telepath controlling this dreamscape didn’t need the
appearance of physical proximity if he wanted to hurt her.

About Carysa Locke:

Carysa Locke is the pseudonym for writing team Carysa Locke and
MaLea Holt, two best friends who have been creating imaginary worlds
together for more than twenty years. Carysa is a high school English
teacher, and MaLea helps support families with special needs children.
You might say, they work as super heroes in their day jobs!

Their
obsession with pirates and adventure goes back many years, when they
started another hobby together - costuming. They regularly attend
Ren-faires and Pirate Festivals. They currently reside in the Pacific
Northwest with their families, where they still routinely roleplay and
costume together, when they aren't too busy working on the next novel.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative
fiction from
around the web, this week with comments on season 2 of Daredevil, the movies Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Midnight Special and Allegiant, a discussion of J.G. Ballard, his novel High-Rise and the film adaptation thereof as well as the usual mix of writing advice, interviews, reviews, con
reports and crowdfunding projects as well as free online fiction.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative
fiction from
around the web, this week with a debate about the space opera subgenre, discussion of J.G. Ballard, his novel High-Rise and the film adaptation thereof, comments on 10 Cloverfield Lane, tributes to Sir Ken Adam and Sylvia Anderson
as well as the usual mix of writing advice, interviews, reviews, con
reports and crowdfunding projects as well as free online fiction.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative
fiction from
around the web, this week with black science fiction, appreciation for The Forever War, discussion of the Agent Carter finale, a controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling and new trailers for Captain American: Civil War, Game of Thrones season 6 and the all-new all-female Ghostbusters
as well as the usual mix of writing advice, interviews, reviews, con
reports and crowdfunding projects as well as free online fiction.

About the Speculative Fiction Showcase

We are a blog about all things indie science fiction, fantasy and horror. Read interviews with and guest posts by spec fic writers and keep current on news from the SFF world and the latest spec-fic releases.